To Venero Gardens at Paul's suggestion

14 years ago

Paul in MN suggested a trip to Venero Gardens in Shorewood, Minnesota, about 15 minutes from my house. I'd never heard of it until two weeks ago. What a fantastic spot. Jay and Dory Venero quit their day jobs ten years ago and started their garden business. They have been living in their house since the early 70's, so their gardens have been in place for years. Jay has done all the construction of the hosta enclosure and out-buildings. He is really knowlegdeable about preparing the soil and was very helpful. Dory is the plant person, and hostas are her passion, although they sell every type of plant, even evergreens. Because they are located in a residential area, you must call for an appointment, but they are there six days a week.

Of course I couldn't leave without a few hosta - Ebb Tide, Medusa, Cutting Edge and Winfield Mist. One of those was even on my wanted list. I've never ordered on-line from them, but judging by the care they gave the plants that I bought, I think you could be confident that their mail-order practices were equally careful.

Here are a few photos.

Hostas for sale under the shade enclosure

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Land of the minis

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A view of their gardens

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Another garden view

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Comments (12)

thisismelissa
14 years ago
Great pics and a fantastic day to go!

You made it out with ONLY 4?
Impressive self control!

I'm quite confident I'll be buying from there a lot more in the future! But it's 45 minutes from me!
botanybabe
14 years ago
Wow, those are some good looking plants and gardens. Not an inch wasted either. Thanks for the pics, those are really nice.

Lainey
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Paul. . I have been mail ordering form Venero for four or five years. I find them accommodating, very nice and efficient to deal with. Their shipment always arrives is the best of order. You will LOVE your Victory. . .by far one of the nicest I own. Mine was planted in 2005 and it is eight and a half feet across and 38 inches high! I love it! Paul. . I WANT your Lucy Vitrols. . . .I had very nicely been ignoring temptation until now. . Now you've gone and corrupted me. . .lol Nice haul fella!
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Veneros is in their FINAL season....from web site they will later sell off other garden assets, from email I received.... PROGRESSIVE SALE JUNE 27 THRU JULY 9 - 30% OFF * JULY 11 THRU JULY 23 - 35% OFF * JULY 25 THRU AUGUST 6 - 40% OFF * AUGUST 8 - AUGUST 20 - 45% OFF * MARTAGON LILY - MAXIMUM DISCOUNT IS 10% OFF (We will ship bulbs in August) * OFFER VALID FOR ON SITE NURSERY PICKUP ONLY open by appointment Phone: 952-474-8550 Email: venerogardens@aol.com 5985 Seamans Dr Shorewood, Mn 55331 www.venerogardens.com and from Website information This is definitely our last year in the nursery business. We felt and expressed that our 2015 season would be the last, but closing our business is taking longer than we anticipated. In preparation for next season, we have dug and divided plants from our display gardens to "refill" the hosta glade including Astiboides, Syneilesis, rare Polygonatums, etc., focusing on items that have been requested. We also dug many Martagon lilies and "rowed" them out in the hosta glade making it much easier to see what's available. While we have sold Martagon lilies most years, we have never included them in our catalog listing. These are all blooming size. We encourage you to order early. Items will continually be potted and added to our tables so we hope you will visit often. Merely because of time constraints, not all items will be listed in our catalog. We will do our best to mark catalog items when sold out. Note that we have omitted the conifer and shrub catalogs from the menu -- we have very few items left from last season -- onesies, twosies type of thing. We will not be listing these -- just to let you know that there are a few things available.
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ptilda
14 years ago
I definitely need to check it out next time I'm in the TC!
chris-e
14 years ago
How beautiful! I am also impressed that you got out with buying only 4 plants. I would love to go there, I am swooning at the pictures! But it is probably a good thing I live on the east coast.
paul_in_mn
14 years ago
Wonderful pics Lois. Makes me want to go back soon. Out of your purchases, only have Cutting Edge (from 08). Looked at Ebb Tide last visit, didn't realize it gets green/misty on edge.

Paul
greenthumbz4mn
14 years ago
Lois--Thanks for the input on Venero Gardens--it really looks like a great place. Out of your picks (why only 4 tee hee) I have Cutting edge and Ebb Tide and both are fantabulous Hosta. Mary
greenthumbz4mn
14 years ago
This is just an aside which I think is weird. Spell Check didn't correct me on the word (in a previous post) fantabulous which I thot was strange since I thot it was a made up word. Then, on the H Library, I found a H named Fantabulous--now I'm curious as to whether that is really a word but can't find my dictionary!!!!! Mary
koidom
14 years ago
Wow!
loisflan
Original Author
14 years ago
Mary, Merriam-Webster says that "fantabulous" is a slang word originating in 1957 from a combination of fantastic and fabulous.
hostasformez4
14 years ago
Note to Teresa M. Didn't you take us to Venero Nursery when my sister and I came up your way in '07 ? Some of the picture backgrounds look familiar. If so it was a wonderful place to visit and buy from. Both my sister Rita and I got hostas and other plants from there and brought them home to Illinois.

Connie
pagrdnr
14 years ago
Looks like a nice place to visit. I went to their site when you told me they carry Regal Promenade. Of course I placed an order. She said all of their regal promenades reverted so I replaced that one with Regal Providence and also ordered Dancing in the Rain, Eskimo Pie, Queen of the Seas, Silver Threads and Golden Needles, and Tattoo.
loisflan
Original Author
14 years ago
Pagrdnr, it looks like Melati got a great bunch of hostas. I hope you are pleased with yours. Regal Providence looks like a real beauty too. I also got a Queen of the Seas this year. I can't wait for it to grow.

To Venero Gardens at Paul's suggestion

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thisismelissa

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To Venero Gardens at Paul's suggestion

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